It's a victory for young Civil War buff

21-year-old student wows a history convention with his new book and presentation

BRIAN BETHEL, Abilene Reporter News |
May 7, 2006

ABILENE - Steven Nathaniel "Than" Dossman is a lot like most college students. He goes to class. He has a job at Chick-fil-A to earn pocket money.

But the 21-year-old McMurry University student is also a rising star among Civil War buffs, thanks to his first book.

Experts in the field like the book so much — and were so impressed with Dossman's presentation at a recent national conference — that the young author is a little overwhelmed by the attention.

"This is the greatest honor I've ever received in my entire life," he said at an on-campus book-signing.

Dossman's book on the Civil War, Campaign for Corinth: Blood in Mississippi, was released in April.

It is both Dossman's thesis for McMurry's honors program, and reflective of his love of all things historical.

The book is about the war campaign around Corinth, Miss., which has a new National Park Service visitor's center.

Dossman, who will graduate in May, wowed professionals and Civil War buffs at the national conference of the Civil War Preservation Trust in Memphis, Tenn. — professionals who had no idea when they invited him to present that he was a young undergraduate.

Two Civil War scholars recommended publication of the book with almost no revisions.

But from the time Dossman hit McMurry as a freshman, it was clear he had an impressive amount of knowledge about the American Civil War.

"I came to McMurry already interested in history," Dossman said, a fact that professors Robert Pace and Don Frazier noted early on.

"The major topic of their (preservation trust) conference happened to be the battles of Shiloh and Corinth," Pace said.

Though the participants were shocked when a 21-year-old walked into the room, they soon became impressed with his knowledge and poise in discussing the Civil War, Pace said.

Dossman "not only sold quite a few books but also was in demand for side conversations and photo ops" at the conference, Frazier said.

"These guys buy, read, and collect Civil War stuff, and it was as if they wanted to get Than's Rookie Card before he hit the bigs," he said in making an analogy to the value of an baseball player's first appearance on a trading card.

Before he could become an author, however, Dossman had to earn the right to write.

Pace and Frazier were impressed with his early knowledge and decided to give the student a challenge.

"We asked him to research and write brief biographical sketches for the McWhiney Foundation Press Civil War Campaigns and Commanders book series," Pace said.

Dossman wrote 14 profiles.

"That was the first time I had ever seen my name in print," he said. As he matured and excelled through the history program, Frazier and Pace thought Dossman was up to a larger task.

They asked him if he would like to write a book in the Campaigns and Commanders series.

"Frazier and I met with him regularly, pushing him and encouraging him," Pace said.

"But he really did it on his own. He would take suggestions from the both of us, and then he would go out and perform."

Frazier was full of praise for Dossman.

"Than is remarkable in that he not only chose a topic upon which to write, but chose it in part because of the marketability of the title, showing a keen business sense to go along with his history passion," he said.